


across the sheets

by poiregourmande



Category: Buzzfeed - Fandom, If Bros Were In Romantic Comedies (Buzzfeed Short Film)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drunk Sex, M/M, Past Zack/Ryan, Sharing a Bed, Side Shane/Ryan, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 11:39:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15971567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poiregourmande/pseuds/poiregourmande
Summary: two surprises awaits zack in his new dorm room this year: a hot new roommate. and a king-sized bed.





	across the sheets

**Author's Note:**

> this was shamelessly inspired by a twitter meme: https://twitter.com/woodlanderratic/status/1033803553066901504

“So… that’s a bed.”

“A king sized bed.”

Zack takes a step back to double check the number on the door and the number on his assignation sheet.

“Are you Justin?”

“Yeah, you Zack?”

They shake hands and triple check on both their information packets that this is indeed their dorm room.

Other than the fact that the room contains one king size bed instead of two singles, everything checks out.

“Well, fuck.”

“Should we – ” Justin rakes a hand through his hair and Zack tries not to notice the way his hair sticks out, tries not to imagine how he looks in the morning, five minutes into meeting him. “Should we go complain, or something?”

Zack drops his backpack on a pile of boxes. “I don’t know about you, but I’m beat. I just wanna unpack and crash, I’m not really up for a fight with the administration right now.”

Justin shrugs his duffel bag off his shoulder. “Guess you’re right. One night can’t hurt, can it?”

Zack flings himself on the bare mattress and starfishes his limbs out. “Check that out! Even with two of us in it, there’s still more room than in these not-quite-a-single dorm beds. Man, I’m telling you, I’ve got permanent back pain from last year’s bed.”

“Tell me about it.” Justin perches himself at the edge of the bed, testing the bounce of the mattress. “Comfy, too.”

As they unpack, they quickly realize they have no bedsheets big enough for that behemoth of a bed. Luckily, it’s a warm September night, but when they finally crash, both in basketball shorts and thin t-shirts, Zack feels weirdly exposed.

“Night, dude,” Justin says.

“Night.”

A crash course in How To Bond With Your New Roommate, that’s what this is. They start the night each clinging to their respective side of the mattress, leaving enough room in the middle for at least one whole person. As Zack’s luck would have it, however, it seems like Justin is a sleep cuddler.

Zack wakes up a full hour before his alarm, a heavy warmth pressed along his back, a muscled arm thrown over his waist, and deep snoring in his ears, which must be what woke Zack up. 

At first Zack doesn’t really think, his mind still on sleepy autopilot. He just sinks deeper into the embrace, letting the steady heartbeat drift him back to the edge of sleep. It’s been so long since he could enjoy some cuddles, in fact he’s missed these strong, tanned arms holding him — wait a second, that’s not Ryan!

His whole body tenses as the memory of Ryan calling things off comes back to him, and Zack realizes the arm pressed around his waist is none other than Justin’s, his new roommate he’s known for less than twenty-four hours. 

Yeah, he’s gonna have to go talk to someone about this bed situation. Before it turns into a Situation.

 

***

 

Zack’s first day back is hectic – basketball tryouts, volunteer work at freshman orientation, unpacking the rest of his stuff, and catching up with friends from last year.

On top of that, he bumps into Ryan with his new boyfriend, Shawn or whatever, and Zack’s feelings are thrown into a loop for the rest of the afternoon.

It’s only when he comes back to the room and sees the enormous bed that he remembers he was supposed to do something about that.

“Shit!”

Justin walks in at the same moment.

“Justin, man, my bad, I wanted to go see someone about the bed, but I had a crazy day, it completely slipped my mind.”

“Same here, dude, no worries. We’ll do it tomorrow.”

Zack’s glad Justin doesn’t have weird hang-ups about sleeping in the same bed. The situation is less than ideal, but it would be much worse if Zack were stuck with an homophobic jerk.

This time around, Zack pulls some bedsheets out of his suitcase. It’s not big enough for the bed, but it’s better than feeling exposed. He throws one at Justin, who grins before burritoing himself into it.

They don’t cling to opposite ends of the mattress, tonight. They lay on their backs, side by side – not touching but not going out of their way to leave room between them – and chat. It’s still early, and like Justin said, they might as well get to know each other, if they’re to be roommates for at least a year. 

Zack has never before felt so comfortable so quickly with someone. He feels like he could tell him everything – in fact, he does.

He tells him about Ryan, and how it was just a fling, but while Zack was falling in love with him, Ryan fell in love with someone else: that Sean – Shane? – dude. 

“He straight up came to me like ‘Zack, do you believe in soulmates?’ and I’m like heart-eyes, you know, just grinning and nodding, and he goes ‘I think I found mine. This friends with benefits thing we got needs to stop.’”

“Friends with benefits!?” Justin exclaims.

“That’s what I said!”

“Bro, that’s rough. I’m so sorry.” 

Justin punches his shoulder gently, a _I’m here for you_ gesture, and Zack is thankful he doesn’t seem fazed by the fact that the guy in bed with him is into dudes. He doesn’t recoil or put space between them, and what does it say about Zack’s standards that he falls a tiny bit in love with him at that?

Zack shrugs. “It’s not really Ryan’s fault. We never said we were exclusive, we were just fooling around and I fell in love. Shit happens.”

“Yeah, I get you. Still sucks, though. It’s never easy when you don’t want the same thing out of a relationship.”

“What do you want out of a relationship?” _Oh god that’s too forward, right?_

But Justin turns to his side to face Zack and smiles.

“I think just someone I can be myself with? Like someone who’s not only my partner, but also my best friend.”

Zack’s trying very hard not to notice how Justin said _partner_ instead of _girlfriend_ but it’s still making him blush as he turns on his side like Justin.

“Same. God, that’s the dream, man.”

They’re silent for a while, eventually drifting off to sleep, and when Justin’s snoring wakes him up the next morning, Zack finds himself in an even more delicate position. Justin’s cuddling him, again, but since they went to sleep face to face, Zack’s face is cradled into Justin’s chest, and their legs are tangled together.

Zack hesitates. If he scrambles out of bed, he risks waking up Justin, who’ll realize what was going on. If he stays there, sooner or later Justin will notice Zack’s giant boner pressed against him – which is typical morning wood and has nothing to do with waking up pressed against a gorgeous muscular body, absolutely not.

Zack holds his breath as he untangles himself as gently and quietly as possible, only allowing himself a relieved sigh once he’s standing next to the bed. Justin sleepily reaches out for Zack’s pillow and cuddles it close to his chest and, okay. That’s a thing he does, it’s not directed at Zack. Maybe Zack should just buy him a teddy bear.

Maybe Zack should just try to do something about this bed problem.

And _oh god_ his pillow’s gonna smell like Justin tonight.

 

***

 

Zack can’t blame his bad memory for not trying to solve the bed issue the following week. In fact, the memory of waking up in Justin’s arms doesn’t leave his mind one second. He’s busy with his first classes, however, and not a bit disappointed to find out that they’re all taking place on the opposite side of campus from the administration buildings. He wouldn’t have time to go there between classes even if he wanted. 

He comes back to the dorms one night to find Justin making the bed. He’s resolutely avoiding Zack’s gaze as he explains. 

“I – um – I bought some sheets. Just in case it takes some time to fix the issue, y’know, when we report it. You know how slow bureaucracy can be. We can’t sleep on a bare mattress too long.”

Zack beams in spite of himself and runs his hand across the bed. “Soft. I’m sorry, I was all the way across campus, I couldn’t take care of…” He gestures vaguely at the bed.

“Yeah, me neither. It’s okay, though, it’s not like it’s the worst problem I’ve ever gotten with a dorm room.” 

Zack chuckles, blushing a bit under Justin's amused gaze. 

“In fact,” Justin says, with the air of someone throwing caution to the wind, “I’ve never slept better.” 

Zack’s cheeks are turning a bright red and he swallows, his throat suddenly dry. “Yeah, same.”

“So, um.” Justin perches himself on the edge of the bed, fiddling with the corner of the bedspread. “I was thinking. Maybe – maybe we could keep it that way?”

Zack’s heart skips a few beats.

What does that mean?

Is Justin just trying to save them some hassle?

Does he just like the comfy mattress?

Or does he want to keep sleeping next to Zack?

Whatever the reason, Zack would be a fool to refuse. He clears his throat, trying too hard to sound casual. “Yeah sure, that sounds good. I mean, any way I don’t have to deal with the administration is a-okay, you get me?” He forces out a weak chuckle and Justin joins in.

“What – what if we hook up?” Zack asks – three guesses as to why this is the first thing on his mind.

Justin looks stunned for a second but then he grins and waves at the bed behind them. “Well, then, we’ll have plenty of room.”

“I – I meant with other people. Wouldn’t it be weird having to explain to someone why you’re sharing a king bed with your roommate?”

A shadow falls on Justin’s face for a second but soon he’s grinning again. “I knew that, bro, I was just messing with you. I mean yeah, that could raise some weird questions, so maybe go back to their room instead of ours? And this way you won’t stink up the sheets I was generous enough to buy for us.”

“Oh, hey, lemme pay you back for my half,” Zack says, seizing the first opportunity to stop talking about hooking up with other people. 

Cause it’s not like he intends to do it.

And thinking of Justin doing it is making blood rush to his ears.

Justin protests as Zack pulls his wallet out, says he doesn’t have to, and they finally settle for Zack buying him dinner one night.

Zack tries to remember it’s a debt repayment, not a date. Which is difficult, because somewhere along the line – he truly can’t remember when – he sat down on the bed and Justin’s entire thigh is pressed against his.

And Justin doesn’t move away in the slightest.

And, okay, they’ve been closer than that, every morning of the past week when Zack woke up tangled into Justin, but never while Justin was conscious. That’s what’s making Zack’s brain melt and his palms sweat. The fact that Justin’s most definitely aware of the lack of personal space between them and is doing nothing to fix that.

In fact, he even sets a hand on Zack’s thigh. “I’m really glad you’re my roommate, Zack. Like, maybe it sounds dumb, but I feel like we’ve known each other forever?” 

God, the feel of Justin’s touch feels just like home, like it had always been there. Zack leans closer into him. “It’s not dumb, dude. I feel the same. It’s just… easy?” 

“Yeah, exactly.” Justin squeezes Zack’s knee before standing up.

He gathers his stuff to go take a shower and Zack wonders if he’s got enough time to take care of that semi that popped up right around the time when Justin suggested keeping the bed. He also wonders if it’s a creepy thing to do in the bed they’re sharing.

He’s still wondering, fingers stuttering on his thigh and now sporting more than a semi, by the time Justin gets back, ten minutes later.

Zack would definitely have had time to do it.

As it is, he pulls his laptop into his lap to hide his boner, pretends to work on some essay, and tries not to notice the way Justin’s still damp hair trails droplets of water down his neck. And the way the entire room now smells clean and fresh, like Justin’s shampoo, like Zack’s pillow.

Jesus, this is not helping his boner issue.

Neither is the way Justin throws himself on the bed, curling against Zack, peering at his screen. “Whatchu working on?”

Nothing but a blank Word document.

But Zack can spin this. “Trying to psych myself into starting this essay for Tuesday.”

“It’s Friday night, man!”

“So?”

“So you shouldn’t be working! You should be living it up, enjoying your youth!”

“Says the dude in his pyjamas at eight thirty.” Zack pokes Justin in the hip of his low-slung flannel pants to demonstrate his point.

“Well yeah. This is the official uniform of Enjoying A King Sized Bed When Fate Throws One Your Way. It doesn’t mean the night has to be boring! In fact, I was about to send you on a mission.”

Zack’s boner doubles in insistence as Justin speaks of _enjoying the bed_ and _a not boring night_ , and he barely hears the mission Justin is giving him. He shakes his thoughts back into place and makes sure the laptop is covering the strategic stuff.

“Sorry, I zoned out – was thinking of the essay. What was the mission?”

“You need to score us some beer. Or like, some cheap vodka. Either way, we’re getting drunk tonight.”

“Why don’t you do it?”

Justin only waves at his pyjamas and flashes him an irresistible grin.

Zack heaves a sigh and makes sure to turn away from Justin before taking the laptop off his lap.

“And put on your PJs before you come back. This bed is a strictly no-jeans zone.”

“That’s a strange rule.”

“Jeans have a distinctly un-relaxed vibe. Look at you. Wearing jeans, working on an essay on a Friday night.” Justin nods as if it were a totally logical leap to take.

“Booze. No jeans. Got it.”

Zack bikes off campus and back with a few bottles of liquor in record time. His boner recedes, thank god, during the bike ride, even though the prospect of spending the night getting drunk in bed with Justin is very appealing.

He drops by the room to leave the bottles and grab his shower stuff and finds Justin lounging on the bed, listening to lo-fi hip hop.

“Don’t you fall asleep on me, dude. I didn’t bike all the way across town for –”

Justin cuts him off with a disarming smile. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

One smile and the hard-on is back. This night might be the death of him – especially when they’ll start hitting the booze.

Zack showers lightning-quick, willing his dick soft, and comes back to the room, dressed in a loose tank and basketball shorts. The tank is long enough to hide his boner – cause it sure as hell will make a comeback. The shorts are because no matter what Justin says, it’s way too warm a night for flannel pyjamas.

And also maybe because past lovers ~~Ryan~~ have told him he had nice legs, and he wants to show off.

Just maybe. 

Zack stops for a second, his hand on the doorknob to their room. He has no idea what’s gonna happen tonight. But it feels like something big. He takes a deep breath and opens the door.

He doesn’t know what he was expecting.

His head was so buzzing with anticipation, blood rushing to his ears, he probably expected something Different. A sign that Things Are About To Change.

But Justin’s still lounging on the bed, listening to music, arms stretched above his head in a way that puts his muscles on display.

Zack lets out a breath, and digs through his backpack for the bottles.

“Whaddya got?” Justin asks. 

“Fake Patrón, fake Appleton, fake Absolut.” 

“Anything not fake?” 

“The alcohol content. And my tuition.”

“Fair enough. Go for the rum.”

Zack pulls out the Apfel Tone and looks around for glasses, before deciding to just go for the bottle. Justin sits up against the headboard to leave room for him and Zack throws himself next to him, a bit forcefully – his nerves are so bad he takes it as a win that he didn’t do something more drastic.

He takes a long swig from the bottle to calm down, and the chemical taste of subpar alcohol hits him right at the back of the throat, making him cough and splutter.

Justin claps him on the back. “Y’okay dude? Not used to hard liquor?”

“Not used to the cheap stuff,” Zack replies hoarsely, trying with all his might not to lean into Justin’s touch.

They’re a third of the bottle in and sitting definitely closer together when Justin, who always seems down for deep conversations, mentions his ex.

“Q was great. We were best friends first and foremost. I could truly be myself around her. In fact, you remind me of her a little. Just the vibe, y’know?”

Her.

The rum churns in Zack’s throat. “Why aren’t you still with her?”

“She got a nice gig in LA, said she didn’t want to keep me tied up. She knew I wanted to explore stuff, make new experiences.”

Zack perks up the tiniest bit at that. “W-what kind of experiences?”

Justin takes another swig of rum and stretches his legs out in front of him. “Y’know. King sized beds. Guys. Among other things.” He winks and Zack wonders how is it possible for all his blood to simultaneously rush to his face and his dick.

“So, did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Try these things?”

“Not the bed. Or at least, not outside of sleeping.”

Zack’s throat goes dry all at once. He drinks some more rum, but it doesn’t help the warmth of his cheeks or the way his legs feel increasingly like pinpricked jelly.

Justin shifts to his knees, facing Zack, smile on his face like a dare, cheeks flushed with booze. He takes the bottle from Zack – their fingers brush and Zack represses a shiver. Justin takes a sip. Zack is transfixed, feverishly unable to look away from Justin’s lips wrapped around the bottle, Justin’s tongue peeking out to gather the last drops of liquor, Justin’s throat as he swallows. 

Justin sets the three-quarters empty bottle on his nightstand, leaning over Zack to do so. He doesn’t quite lean away afterwards, instead setting a hand on the headboard next to Zack’s shoulder, his other hand hovering hesitantly between the bed and Zack’s hip.

His face is inches from Zack’s. His mouth curls deliciously in a smooth smirk and Zack wants to taste it. His breath smells of rum, but in a warm way, not a gross way.

An entire week of attraction, months of sexual frustration, half a bottle of rum, all of this coils in the pit of Zack’s stomach until he fists a hand through Justin’s shirt and pulls him closer.

His eyebrows raise in question, and Justin breathes out “hell yeah,” and Zack exhales “fuck,” and they kiss.

They kiss like it’s their last chance, they kiss like they’d die if they didn’t, they kiss like they’ve shared a bed for the past week. They kiss like a dam finally breaking after holding back forever.

Somewhere along the way their shirts have disappeared and Justin’s skin is burning Zack’s fingertips but he can’t stop touching, can’t stop exploring this gorgeous man, who’s just _so into it_ – Zack wouldn’t have ever expected this. 

Justin keeps panting Zack’s name and toying with his waistband and Zack is on the edge of begging.

Scratch that, he’s full-on begging now.

“Justin, _Justin,_ please, man, just – just touch me.”

“You want this?”

Justin’s smug smirk. His amused tone of voice. The fact that he’s asking even after Zack’s desperate pleas.

All of it punches the air out of Zack’s lungs and he scrunches his eyes shut, clutches at Justin’s biceps and answers in increasingly moany gasps. “Yes, yes, please Justin, I want – I want you.”

Zack doesn’t even notice Justin shedding the last of their clothes, he’s just vibrating with need, hands fisting the bedspread to keep from touching himself and coming too soon. His head is swimming from the booze and the lust, he’s drunk on Justin and drunk on rum and drunk on anticipation.

“Look at me,” Justin whispers, a low growl in his throat, and Zack hadn’t even noticed his eyes were still closed.

He meets Justin’s gaze.

“Fuck,” Justin gasps. “You’re so – so gorgeous.” He trails a hand down Zack’s side. “Look at that, fuck.”

Justin takes a shuddered breath and leans down to lick a trail up Zack’s cock. Zack trembles under his mouth, hesitating hands trying to find a place to settle down. His fingers flutter over Justin’s cheeks, his shoulders, back to the bed, and end up curled into his hair.

That’s when Justin opens his mouth and takes him in, inch by inch, looking straight into his eyes. Zack can’t help the jerk of his hips but Justin’s eyes shine and he pulls back.

“Do it.”

Zack doesn’t answer, and Justin explains, in a hoarse voice that sends shivers down Zack’s spine, “fuck my mouth.”

Zack could come from just that but he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, tries to center himself until he can feel his impending orgasm receding.

“Yeah?” he asks.

Justin flicks his tongue over the head of Zack’s cock, sinks back on it. “Mhm,” he hums in answer.

This is it, then. Zack cradles Justin’s head in his head and pumps his hips up and down, up and down, slowly at first but quickly losing control, chasing his release. Justin starts to tear up, but when Zack tries to pull out Justin holds him in place and smiles, as much as he can with a cock in his mouth.

And, really, that’s pretty much all Zack needs. His hips buck up with one last shudder and he spills down Justin’s throat. A few drops trickle down his chin when Zack pulls out, only adding to his deliciously ruined appearance – Zack almost wants to go again because he looks hot as hell. Instead he pulls Justin up and straight-up devours his mouth, licking his own come from Justin’s lips.

Justin ruts against Zack’s softening dick, which is quickly veering into oversensitivity territory. Zack flips them over and straddles Justin, closing his fist over Justin’s cock. He’s leaking so much precome Zack’s grip is slick and easy. Zack doesn’t have to pump long before Justin desperately fucks into his fist. He latches onto Justin’s neck and paints his skin with gorgeous purple marks all over, relishing in the symphony of whimpers he’s able to pull from Justin’s throat.

Justin spills warm over Zack’s hand, over his own chest, hips stuttering to a halt. He’s panting and panting and can’t quite catch his breath, but Zack brushes his hair off his sweaty forehead with his clean hand, leaning down to pepper kisses on it. 

“Fuck,” Justin exhales, his breath shuddery.

“Yeah,” Zack says, and he can’t stop grinning.

He grabs the closest garment he can find – his own basketball shorts – and wipes them both clean. He needs to do laundry tomorrow anyway.

Justin is already half asleep, and he barely waits until Zack throws the shorts in his hamper across the room to pull him in close to be the little spoon. Zack lets himself sink in the comfy mattress, the warm embrace of Justin’s arms, the faint buzz of his drunk brain.

 

***

 

Zack wakes up like every other morning of the week: tucked into Justin’s body, trying not to make a sound, not to wake him up so he doesn’t realize Zack’s enjoying it.

But then Zack notices his splitting headache, and the taste of day-old booze and come on his tongue and last night's events come back to him like a thunderstorm: suddenly, and then all at once.

They were drunk.

Oh my god, Zack completely took advantage of Justin, didn’t he?

Fuck, he needs to go.

Zack’s heart is beating harder than ever, and Justin’s hand presses in closer on his chest. 

And that’s when he notices the silence.

Justin isn’t snoring like all the other mornings.

Zack scrunches up his face and waits for the freak out. _We were drunk. I’m not gay. This was a mistake._

He feels Justin take a deep breath and braces himself for the blow. 

“Please stay,” Justin whispers, so low Zack isn’t sure he heard right. “Don’t run away like the other days.”

“Justin?”

“I like waking up with you. I kept hoping you’d stay, every morning. You never did.”

“I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

“I do.”

Zack rolls over to face Justin, to see his warm smile and bright eyes, and despite the hangover splitting his head and his mouth feeling – and tasting – like a fifteen-year old gym bag, he’s never felt better.

Justin pulls him in, lips parted. Zack pulls away with a chuckle.

“Yeah, no, I think Imma have to brush my teeth before… whatever you’re about to do.”

“I was about to kiss my boyfriend and invite him to brunch, but that’s fair.”

“Boyfriend?” 

“Yeah?”

“I can work with that.”

 


End file.
